Now more than ever, it is essential for leaders at higher education institutions to work across departments to prepare their institutions for current and future success. In addition to channeling the talents and energies of faculty and students, leaders at institutions of higher education play a role in ensuring that their institutions positively impact individuals and communities. Moreover, they have unique characteristics that bring unique challenges due to the complex nature of academia, the highly distributed organizational structure, and the diverse stakeholders involved. To bring about change, the leaders’ leadership skills in higher education institutions must be developed, as it helps them understand the issues and opportunities in education today. It also helps them build and sustain higher education institutions that are inclusive, supportive, and healthy, inspiring lifelong learners and providing solutions to support students from all backgrounds.
Leadership skills needed by leaders in higher education institutions
1. Empathy
Leaders at higher education institutions must commit to meaningful action to support all students. Doing so requires empathic thinking and social awareness, focusing on the well-being of all students. Successful leaders at institutions of higher education practice compassion to foster an inclusive and diverse community and leverage restorative justice and its power.
2. Critical thinking
The ability to think critically is vital in higher education. Higher education institutions need professionals who can question and improve institution-wide or internal policies to ensure that all students have the same access and opportunity. This critical thinking will push leaders to challenge outdated norms and keep higher education relevant in today’s evolving cultural landscape.
3. Financial management
Financial management is often associated with fundraising and donor relations, but budgeting and financial planning are also vital skills for leaders in higher education institutions. Therefore, These leaders need experience in developing and supervising budgets and financial plans during economic uncertainty.
4. Practice teamwork
Influential leaders at higher education institutions can work with faculty, staff, and administration to develop new solutions to challenges related to equity and inclusion. They must also have the appropriate skills to work across departments and meet the needs of a diverse student population. In other words, they must collaborate and practice teamwork to support and understand students and staff better to sustain progress in diversity.
5. Providing leadership development opportunities
Leaders in higher education institutions recognize the importance of providing development opportunities for faculty and staff in their careers, especially those with the potential and desire to assume a future leadership role. This helps higher education institutions enhance and expand their pool of candidates for leadership positions while allowing employees to advance their careers at their current institution.
6. Effective communication
Leaders at higher education institutions must comfortable communicating and engaging with a wide range of audiences on and off campus and uniting conflicting viewpoints. Therefore, leaders in higher education institutions will need to use their communication skills to connect diverse groups of people and sustain progress across departments.
7. Using data in strategic planning
Understanding and using data is integral to strategic planning, as data provides empirical evidence for decision-making. Data plays a crucial role in budgeting and financial planning, but the use of data also supports policy development, curriculum development, operations, and student and staff recruitment. Leaders at higher education institutions should build a culture that encourages faculty and staff to create strategic plans and monitor their progress by using data. Therefore, Strategic planning enables leaders in higher education institutions to balance short-term needs and long-term plans.
8. Change management
In today’s environment, change is inevitable, happening increasingly and very quickly. Therefore, change management skills help leaders in higher education institutions assess the potential impact of change on individual stakeholders and the organization. Communication, collaboration, and active listening are critical elements of change management.
9. Awareness of diversity needs in societies
For leaders in higher education institutions, it is essential to be aware of the needs of diverse communities and understand how those needs may intersect. This awareness helps leaders provide appropriate support and make necessary improvements to the institution’s diversity commitment efforts through outreach to prospective students, on-campus activities, hiring and promotion practices, curriculum development, and community support.
10. Intellectual curiosity
For many leaders at higher education institutions, becoming a dean, chair of an academic department, or chancellor means more time in meetings and less time doing the work that attracted them to academia in the first place. However, leadership success in institutions of higher education requires intellectual curiosity. It helps leaders in higher education institutions master new disciplines, respond to various challenges, and build a better environment for learning and growth.
One of the challenges in developing leaders’ leadership skills in higher education institutions is that simply learning concepts is different from being able to practice them. Although knowledge is necessary, leadership is ultimately what others perceive based on how the leader interacts and behaves with them.
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